Origin: Made on an American whaling ship
Circa: 1840
Materials & Dimensions: Dense mahogany, hardwoods, bone, and original hardware. 8 × 16½ × 10 inches.

Description:
This rare patriotic sailor’s box is a superb example of sailor-made American folk art, combining fine craftsmanship, maritime history, and bold national imagery. Constructed as a dovetailed rectangular valuables box, the piece is made of dense mahogany and richly enlivened with original whalebone and hardwood inlays.

The lid is decorated with an elegant geometric and floral design centered by a mariner’s star, while the front panel features a dramatic spread-wing American eagle above a shield, flanked by American flags. The combination of careful inlay work, patriotic symbolism, and exceptional preservation makes this an especially notable example of scrimshaw-related maritime folk art.

The box survives in a fine state of preservation and retains its original hardware. Its refined construction and elaborate decoration suggest both considerable skill and patient workmanship, likely produced during long periods at sea aboard an American whaling vessel.

Note:
A related scrimshaw sailor’s box by the same artist was sold at Christie’s, New York, January 24, 2013, lot 115.

The related example descended in the family of Captain William Dunbar and was accompanied by a 1950 family letter recording that the box had been made aboard a whaling vessel while on an Arctic expedition. According to the letter, a sailor on one of Captain Dunbar’s ships carved the box from a board and inlaid it entirely by hand while the ship was frozen in for many months near Greenland.

Related Historical Reference:
Captain William Dunbar later served as ice pilot aboard the Jeannette, one of the early Arctic expeditions toward the North Pole. The ship became stranded in the Arctic in 1881 and did not return.